By Selena Stevens

"UK staff members want to be heard. They want a voice and a way to be visible in the university community. The (staff) senate can be that voice."

-- Russ Williams, staff representative on the UK Board of Trustees

Jan. 17, 2002 (Lexington, Ky.) -- With promising support from the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees, staff leaders are preparing for the creation of the UK Staff Senate. Forums are being planned to introduce the idea of a senate and begin soliciting senator candidates. A contest is under way to develop a Staff Senate graphic.

At their December meeting, trustees gave first reading to a governing regulation that would create the senate.

The proposal will be brought before the board Jan. 22 for a final vote. UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. has supported creating the senate and brought the proposal to the Board of Trustees.

“It is an exciting time for staff at UK,” said Staff Trustee Russ Williams. “UK staff members want to be heard. They want a voice and a way to be visible in the university community. The senate can be that voice.”

Williams was the university’s first staff member of the Board of Trustees, being elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2001. To gather staff input for his role, he relied on an informal coalition of staff leaders and input from a staff listserv and Web page.

“What we have done to this point is good, and it has worked, but I know it has not been totally representative of our staff,” he said. “The senate will be more representative and will give direct input to the staff trustee and the president.”

Sean Scott and Scott Marksberry, who have worked on the development of the senate with Williams and a core of other campus leaders, said they feel the senate will give staff a unified voice, similar to that of the faculty’s University Senate. That voice will help advocate staff needs in issues from health benefits to childcare.

To help better identify the senate, a graphic is being developed. Staff are invited to submit graphic proposals through Feb. 1 to dsmark00@mail.uky.edu or 375 Peterson Service Building, 0005.